National Newswatch

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Abbas Rana

True representation of constituents requires MPs to take principled positions even if it risks caucus expulsion or floor crossing, says Bill Casey

MPs are in the House of Commons to represent their constituents, and if they believe their party's positions run counter to those interests, they should speak up, even if it means leaving the party or being kicked out, says former Conservative-turned-Liberal MP Bill Casey. Crossing the floor, or even voting against one’s own party, is one of the hardest decisions...

Brian Lilley

Steve Outhouse in as next Conservative campaign manager

Jenni Byrne is out as the Conservative campaign manager for the next federal election – Steve Outhouse is in. The Conservative Party has confirmed that Outhouse, fresh off another provincial campaign win in Newfoundland and Labrador, will take the helm for whenever the next federal election campaign takes place.

Andrew Waugh

If I was PM, we'd have a tariff-free softwood lumber deal with Trump: Poilievre

Pierre Poilievre says he’d succeed where Prime Minister Mark Carney has failed, and that New Brunswick’s softwood lumber sector would quickly get a “tariff-free” deal with the United States if he was in charge.

Industry Minister Joly heads to South Korea to meet with Hanwha

Industry Minister Melanie Joly is jetting off to Asia for a five-day trip to meet with major companies and discuss Ottawa's hunger for attracting large investments into Canada's defence-related sectors. The meetings come as Canada looks to quickly ramp up non-U.S. exports, and will include talks with one of the two bidders on Canada's major submarine procurement project. Joly is...

Stephen Hunt

‘He hasn’t been very constructive now, has he?’ Danielle Smith pushes back against Eby comments

Alberta premier Danielle Smith wants to know if British Columbia Premier David Eby is still on Team Canada or not. On her Saturday radio program, Your Province, Your Premier, Smith called out Eby for being a disappointing provincial teammate at a time when she said the whole country has to come together to find new markets for their resources. “He...

Polls

Eddie Sheppard, David Coletto

Building a Future-Ready Ontario: How Colleges Can Help Protect Jobs and Strengthen Communities

Recently, Abacus Data partnered with Colleges Ontario to better understand how Ontarians feel about the future of work, the economy, and the role colleges play in preparing people for change. Ontarians are increasingly anxious about their future. Rising costs, job insecurity, and rapid technological change have created a precarity mindset – a feeling that stability can no longer be taken...

Nik Nanos

Liberals 40, Conservatives 38, NDP 10. Trump and jobs top national concerns

The tight race between the Liberals and the Conservatives in ballot support continues with the front runners within the margin of error of each other. Canadians continue to be fixated on Trump/US relations and jobs/the economy while Carney maintains an advantage on the preferred PM tracking over Poilievre.

Opinion

Bruce Anderson

Just Watch Me

On St. Jean Baptiste Day in 1970, my father took my brother Rick and me to Montreal from where we lived in Valleyfield, to watch the annual parade celebrating Quebec’s national pride.

Althia Raj

What Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre can learn from Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith

Watching former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer and long-time Conservative MP Scott Reid run from the back of the room to their seats in the House of Commons Monday, claiming their voting app didn’t work, recalled Nova Scotia floor-crossing MP Chris d’Entremont’s depiction of Pierre Poilievre’s party as a “frat house.” The way Poilievre ran the party, d’Entremont told the CBC...

News

Steven Chase

Navy considers training-ship operations in Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River

The Royal Canadian Navy is considering expanding its training-ship operations to the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River, a move that would enable it to assist in patrolling the maritime border between Canada and the United States. Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, said as part of its modernization effort, it is weighing increasing its fleet of...

Dylan Robertson

Canada, India revive negotiations for comprehensive trade deal, after 15-year attempt

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are reviving attempts at a comprehensive trade deal, which both countries started negotiating in 2010. "The two leaders agreed to formally launch negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement," Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand told The Canadian Press at the G20 summit in Johannesburg.

Politician's Pen

Elizabeth May

The ‘Balance of Responsibility’ and Why I Voted for the Carney Budget

Let’s face it, with 343 MPs in this Parliament and one Green Party seat, I had not imagined that any vote might be so tight that my single “yay” or “nay” could hold sway. Then, based on a combination of minority math and political machination, the knife-edge vote on Mark Carney’s first budget on November 17th came along and the...

Various

Ban Sports Betting Ads

Opinion (Continued) More

Daniel Béland

Québec’s Pre-Election Year Drama: Founder’s Syndrome, Firings, and a PQ that Could Win by Default

With Premier François Legault experiencing the throes of seemingly irrevocable voter fatigue less than a year before the scheduled October 5, 2026 Quebec election, the Parti Québecois (PQ) is benefiting from not only disenchantment with Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), but also from problems plaguing its other rivals. While the PQ’s lead in the polls has declined in recent weeks...

Mikael Grev

Gripen E vs F-35? The Wrong Question to Ask

There’s been a lot of debate about which fighter jet is “best,” the F-35 or the Gripen E, after Saab offered Canada the option to buy Gripens instead of more F-35s. Many want to turn it into an all-or-nothing issue, and the least serious commentators pit them against each other instead of discussing how dangerous they would be to the...

Hayley Wickenheiser

Staying in the Game: Why Canada’s Global Health Leadership Matters Now More Than Ever

Martin Regg Cohn

Here’s why Doug Ford is in no hurry to fire his hapless labour minister

Doug Ford faces a growing political problem with a seemingly obvious solution. That problem is David Piccini, Ontario’s embattled minister of labour.

Robyn Urback

We have normalized delinquent, disorderly behaviour in our cities for too long

Bob Rae

The Devil is Alive and Well in the Details of the US/Russia Deal

A quotation I have turned to more than once is Blaise Pascal’s famous dictum that “Justice without enforcement is powerless, but power without justice is tyranny”. Many critics argue that international law is not really law because it is powerless. The reality is that any kind of law is powerless if enforcement never happens. The more complicated truth is that...

Andrew Coyne

The PQ’s postsecession currency proposal isn’t a bridge. It’s the abyss

Oh God. We’re really going to do this, are we: Repeat the same old psychodrama, rehearse the same preposterous fantasies, repeat the same extravagant lies? Thirty years after the last secession crisis, having averted a disaster by the narrowest of margins, we’re going to do it all again? Well, it’s not a certainty. But if the election scheduled for next...

Political Pulse Panel

How will Canadians view the passage of Carney's first budget?

The Carney government's first budget passed the minority Parliament with the help of two NDP and two Conservative MPs who did not vote. The Power & Politics panel of party insiders discusses the budget vote and what some U.S. government representatives had to say about Canada this week.

Matt Gurney

Mark Carney has a decision to make that will cost billions. Worse, he has no good options, and time is running out

Canada‘s existing fleet of fighter jets is overdue for replacement. The CF-18s have been operating continuously since the early 1980s, longer than most of their pilots have been alive. The basic existing design of the fighter is even older than that. They should have been replaced long ago. This was supposedly a priority for the Harper government. In theory, it...

Susan Delacourt

Why is the political right picking on rights?

Something is happening on the political right about, well, rights. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is rapidly working on what looks like a bid to normalize the use of the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause, invoking it last month to end a teachers’ strike and this week to push through changes to laws about transgender health and rights.

John Ivison

Ottawa wakes up to a B.C. dispute ‘poisoning’ billions in export opportunities

After two years of benign neglect, Ottawa seems to have woken up to the threat to its plan to double non-U.S. exports from an obscure dispute at the Port of Prince Rupert in British Columbia. There are now seven separate lawsuits, and threats of further escalation, centred on claims by the Lax Kw’alaams and Metlakatla First Nations (collectively the Coast...

Andrew Phillips

If Carney’s narrow budget escape was a ‘rookie’ move, I’ll take more of that, please

The verdict in Ottawa this week seems to be that the Carney government was darn lucky to get its budget passed in this minority Parliament. Judging by the political panel shows and the judgment of pundits, including some in the Star, the fact that a Christmas election was avoided by a mere two-vote margin in the Commons and the government...

Jen Gerson

Guess who’s at fault for all the world’s ills? It’s women again

Lawrence Martin

Get ready for the next federal election – in 2029

‘Twas much ado about very little. There was a next-to-zero chance of the Carney government falling on the vote on the budget. None of the parties wanted an election. Nor did the population. So, there was lots of posturing by the parties to vote down the budget but make sure the government was kept afloat. The media had to play...

Althia Raj

Does Mark Carney want someone else to say no to a pipeline?

Does Prime Minister Mark Carney want to build a new pipeline to the West Coast, or is he buying time and expecting Indigenous communities and the NDP government in British Columbia to oppose it for him? Ask federal Liberals that question and you get different answers. MPs, who were briefed about an upcoming memorandum of understanding with Alberta Premier Danielle...

Jean Chrétien, Mike Harris

Canada needs to step up. We need Candu nuclear technology

When we were both in office in the 1990s, Canada and China agreed to the sale of two Candu nuclear reactors, marking the largest commercial agreement between our two countries at the time. Many decades later, we continue to see the benefits of that partnership and the construction of more than 30 other reactors built domestically and across the world...

Gerald Butts, Peter Nicholson, Rick Smith

New data shows the world is embracing renewable energy. Canada can’t follow Trump’s fossil fuel obsession

Gerald Butts is vice-chairman of Eurasia Group. Peter Nicholson and Rick Smith are chair of the board and president of the Canadian Climate Institute. The rest of the world is ramping up its transition to cleaner, more efficient, electric technologies, while the Trump administration is leading the United States down a dead-end street. That’s one rather glaring conclusion from the...

Max Fawcett

The use of the Notwithstanding Clause is out of control. It’s up to voters to stop it

Another day, another attack on freedoms by Alberta's supposedly libertarian premier. In announcing her government’s plan to apply the Notwithstanding Clause to three separate pieces of legislation targeting transgender youth and adults in Alberta, Smith told reporters that “this is one of the most consequential actions our government will take during our time in office.” In time, it might be...

Aaron Wherry

No one wants an election. MPs almost voted to have one anyway

This week's budget drama does not bode well for the 45th Parliament. Is there anyone inside the House of Commons who thinks what the country wants or needs right now is another federal election? And if not, why was there such suspense and drama around this week's vote on the Liberal government's budget policy? As much as those who work...

Andrew Coyne

Canada’s ‘dramatic’ budget vote goes exactly according to script

You have to understand: it was always going to end this way. For all the efforts to hype the budget vote as suspenseful, for all the speculation over what the NDP or the Conservatives might or might not do, for all the indignation directed at the Liberals for failing to negotiate with the opposition, there was never any chance that...

Andrew MacDougall

He may not know it, but Pierre Poilievre dodged a bullet at this week’s budget vote

It won’t feel this way to Pierre Poilievre, but the Conservative leader dodged a bullet when Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first budget cleared the House of Commons on Monday. A Christmas election could easily have buried Poilievre, if not his party. Pace any cheerful Liberals, this doesn’t mean Carney’s victory is a victory for Canada. Early polling about the budget...

Susan Delacourt

Mark Carney’s budget drama revealed weaknesses in every party

Well, that’s settled. Mark Carney’s first budget has passed, the Liberal government lives to fight another day and everyone can feel relief that Canada isn’t getting a Christmas election. But is that relief earned, or justified?

Althia Raj

Mark Carney wins a game of chicken to pass his budget

Just like in a game of chicken, Prime Minister Mark Carney stared down the opposition unafraid of a collision, and on Monday the opposition blinked, swerving at the last minute to avoid sending Canadians to the polls again, and signalling to the Grits they could be dealt with this way. None of the opposition parties wanted to lend Carney their...

Mark McQueen

Say he’s ‘in trouble’ till you’re blue in the face, but Poilievre is staying put as leader

It seems like not an hour goes by without some political observer advancing their particular version of the thesis that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is “in trouble.”

News (Continued) More

Neil Moss

Fentanyl tariffs, U.S. air strikes avoided at G7 ministers’ discussion on drug trafficking

Contentious issues that put Canada’s southern neighbour in the spotlight were kept off the agenda for the second straight G7 ministerial meeting. When the Group of Seven interior and security ministers huddled in Ottawa from Nov. 22-23, neither American tariffs on Canada, nor the Trump administration’s air strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean were up for discussion, according...

Jenna Banfield

Senators call on prime minister to ban advertising for sports betting

Two senators are calling on the federal government to ban advertising for sports betting in Canada. A letter to the prime minister from Charlottetown Sen. Percy Downe and Waterloo Sen. Marty Deacon asks the government to have the CRTC ban all advertising for sports gambling apps and websites. It is supported by 40 other senators.

Benjamin Lopez Steven

Gun buyback program will launch nationally after Nova Scotia pilot, minister says

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree says the federal government’s gun buyback program will be rolled out across Canada as a report from a pilot in Nova Scotia suggests low turnout. “I will be showing our next steps on the program as we roll out throughout the country,” Anandasangaree said on Sunday afternoon. “But it is significant to say that we...

Emily Baron Cadloff

Justice minister says lack of respect causing issues for global unity

HALIFAX -- Justice Minister Sean Fraser hammered home the message of strength through global unity and respect at the Halifax International Security Forum.

Dylan Robertson

Carney evokes Mandela, looks to trade pacts to help navigate 'this moment of rupture'

JOHANNESBURG -- Prime Minister Mark Carney evoked the legacy of Nelson Mandela in praising efforts by fellow leaders to collaborate amid global volatility, as Canada sought more trade partners and promoted multilateralism at the G20 summit in Johannesburg.

The Canadian Press

Minister Fraser says democracies need strong institutions to keep powers in check

HALIFAX -- Justice Minister Sean Fraser says without strong institutions holding political powers in check, democracy is weakened not just in Canada, but globally.

Abbas Rana

Bloc Leader Blanchet’s expletive about government’s budget negotiation strategy ‘not suitable for work,’ says Government House Leader MacKinnon

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet’s colourful characterization of the government’s strategy on last week’s budget vote was inappropriate and not suitable for a professional work environment, says the government House leader. “That’s not suitable for work, is it?” said Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon (Gatineau, Que.) in an interview with The Hill Times.

Dylan Robertson

Carney: No 'burning issue' to bring up with Trump, talks to resume when 'appropriate'

Prime Minister Mark Carney is in no hurry to resume trade talks with U.S. President Donald Trump but will speak again with the president "when it's appropriate," Carney said on Sunday. Carney said he expects to speak with Trump sometime in the next two weeks but otherwise stands ready for when the Americans next knock on Canada's door to return...

Alex Binkley

Temporary Foreign Worker Program important to many sectors

Dylan Robertson

Carney says Canada upholding values but drops talk of 'feminist foreign policy'

Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada no longer has a feminist foreign policy, but still wants to uphold values on the world stage that include LGBTQ+ rights and combatting violence against women. Carney is at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, where he says it was important that the South African chair put gender-based violence into the joint statement, as something...

Nick Murray

New Nunavut premier takes office as federal government pushes infrastructure drive

As John Main settled in for one of his first interviews since being chosen as Nunavut's new premier, his phone rang while he was in the middle of a sentence. "Hi Doug," he said, taking a congratulatory call from Ontario Premier Doug Ford. "I've been inundated with people reaching out," Main said after hanging up. "It's a little bit surreal...

Antony Sguazzin

Carney Says World Can Move on Without The US, Stresses New Ties

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the world can make progress on a range of issues without the US, and that consensus reached at a Group of 20 leaders’ meeting in Johannesburg this weekend carries weight despite a boycott by President Donald Trump’s administration. South Africa, the G-20 host this year, defied the US by releasing a declaration from the...

Stephanie Ha, Rachel Aiello

Carney views India as a reliable trading partner, launches talks towards new deal: Official

The prime ministers of Canada and India have agreed to launch negotiations towards a new Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), according to a senior government official. Today, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Indian President Narendra Modi met on the sidelines of the G20 summit. The two countries – who are in the midst of a reset of a strained relationship...

Currie Dixon sworn in as Yukon's 12th premier, appoints eight to cabinet

Currie Dixon has been sworn in as the Yukon's next premier. Dixon's Yukon Party won 14 of 21 seats in the territory's legislative assembly in the Nov. 3 election, which saw the previously governing Liberals reduced to one seat. The Yukon NDP forms the official Opposition with six seats. Dixon is the first premier born in the Yukon. The swearing-in...

Dylan Robertson

Carney says Ottawa, South Africa launching talks for an investment pact on minerals

Prime Minister Mark Carney says Ottawa and South Africa have agreed to launch discussions for an investment-protection pact, focused on clean energy and minerals. Carney is at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, where he says Canada wants to get more private-sector engagement between both countries, including in the responsible sourcing of critical minerals. His comments come days after South Africa's...

Mike Blanchfield

GOP lawmaker demands $300B in defense dues from Canada

Republican lawmaker Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina says it’s all good and well that Canada is finally meeting its NATO defense spending commitments, but Canada should make up for two decades of back dues — to the tune of $300 billion. “Can we do a makeup payment for the 20 years of shortfalls as well?” Tillis told a Saturday...

Peter Mansbridge, Chantal Hébert, Bruce Anderson

Good Talk -- Kings, Queens, Ambassadors and Jet Fighters - Dealing for Dollars, Jobs and Security.

Another week where there's lots to talk about with Chantal Hebert and Bruce Anderson. The US is playing hardball through its ambassador to Canada over which jet fighter we "must" buy, while Sweden sends its King and Queen to push its option. And then there's the pipeline story -- could a deal between Ottawa and Alberta be close on that...

Dylan Robertson

PM Carney signs onto AI and technology partnership with India, Australia

Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Johannesburg for the G20 summit, where South African officials say there will be a joint declaration despite a U.S. boycott. Carney is meeting today with leaders from France, Jamaica, Norway, Germany, the U.K., the European Union and the World Trade Organization. He is also taking part in official meetings with G20 leaders, with a...

Dylan Robertson

Canada joins Europe rejecting Trump's Ukraine plan, Anand says sovereignty is key

The world's most influential nations gathered in South Africa to work around Washington's disruptive foreign policy Saturday, reaching consensus on issues like climate change and gender equality while pushing back on a Ukraine deal that western allies deemed insufficient. For Canada, disruptive geopolitics led to a technology pact with India, a recent foe, along with a cut to Ottawa's funding...

Spencer Van Dyk

‘I hope he’s feeling better,’ Paterson says of U.S. Ambassador Hoekstra after altercation over anti-tariff ad

Ontario’s representative in Washington says he’s signed his Christmas card to U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra, and hopes the two are moving forward after an altercation last month. “I’ve met Ambassador Hoekstra several times, I actually kind of like the guy,” David Paterson told CTV Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in an interview airing Sunday. “He’s different.” “I’ve had...

Craig Lord

Ottawa is 'rebooting' its relationship with the tech industry, advocates say

Prime Minister Mark Carney told a business crowd in Montreal recently that the federal government got a bit of outside help on a major piece of innovation policy in the recently passed federal budget. "We went to Shopify and said, 'Can you help us redesign this process?' Somewhat embarrassingly, they came back in 48 hours and said, 'Do this.' We...

Darren Major

Ontario’s rep in Washington says Reagan ad not coming up in talks with U.S. lawmakers

The Ontario government’s representative in Washington says the infamous ad that upset U.S. President Donald Trump and ostensibly pushed him to halt trade talks with Canada hasn’t prevented him from having productive meetings. David Paterson told CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton that the Ontario government-backed advertisement — featuring clips of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about...

Catharine Tunney

Liberals hoped their border bill would quickly pass. Now they're aiming for next year

Legislation introduced last spring faces battles on multiple fronts. One of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first orders of business after securing a win during the spring federal election was to introduce a border security bill. It was heralded by Liberals as a signature piece of legislation to help harden the 49th parallel and advance a trade deal with the White...

Dylan Robertson

PM Carney in Johannesburg as G20 members agree to release a declaration without U.S.

Stephanie Levitz

Conservative MPs’ financial records leaked in alleged breach of party data

The Conservative Party is investigating a data breach involving the financial records of 15 of its MPs. The documents detail the individuals’ financial histories, including loans, mortgages or other money owing and details about whether they make their payments on time. In a statement, party spokesperson Sarah Fischer said the party became aware of the breach on Monday. “We are...

Craig Lord

Canada Post reaches deal in principle with union, strike suspended

Canada Post and the union representing thousands of its mail carriers say they have reached agreements in principle for new contracts after two years of contentious bargaining. Both parties confirmed the outlines of a deal were in place Friday evening. In a statement, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers said rotating strike action has been suspended as the parties work...

Darren Major

Ottawa, Alberta expected to sign new energy sector deal on Thursday: source

Memorandum of understanding expected to include language around a new oil pipeline. Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith are expected to sign an agreement on the future of Alberta's energy sector on Thursday, according to a senior federal government source. CBC News reported earlier this week that the memorandum of understanding between the federal and provincial governments...

Jack Farrell

Nolan Dyck, third member of Alberta premier's caucus, faces recall petition drive

A third member of Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservative Party caucus is now officially the target of a petition to get him recalled from his job as a member of the legislature. Elections Alberta said in a news release Friday it has approved a signature-collecting campaign against first-term Grande Prairie legislature member Nolan Dyck. The approval kick-starts a three-month signature...

Dylan Robertson

Carney in South Africa as concerns grow over U.S. boycott of G20

Prime Minister Mark Carney is in South Africa for a G20 summit overshadowed by a U.S. boycott -- and as critics of Canada's Africa strategy closely watch Carney's first trip to the region as prime minister. "There's a great synergy and opportunity for us to collaborate on core challenges that affect us all," said Carleton University professor David Hornsby, who...

Peter Zimonjic

JD Vance blames immigration for Canada's 'stagnating' living standards

U.S. vice-president takes aim at CBC and Canada's political leadership in X posts. U.S. Vice-President JD Vance made a series of posts criticizing Canada’s political leadership, public broadcaster and immigration system, saying our living standards are “stagnating” because of all the “foreign-born” people living here. In posts to his X account Friday, Vance says Canada’s elected leaders have created “immigration...

US Poli

The Associated Press

Mamdani stands by Trump criticism despite friendly White House meeting

WASHINGTON (AP) -- New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani didn't back down in an interview that aired Sunday from past criticism that President Donald Trump acted like a despot and a fascist after a surprisingly friendly White House meeting between the two men.

Jeff Amy, The Associated Press

Marjorie Taylor Greene is resigning. Here's what to know about her five years in Congress

ATLANTA (AP) -- It all happened so fast. Less than a week after President Donald Trump denounced Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican announced that she would resign from Congress on Jan. 5.

The Associated Press

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, former Trump loyalist, says she is resigning from Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a once-loyal supporter of President Donald Trump who has become a critic, said Friday she is resigning from Congress in January.

Michelle L. Price, The Associated Press

Trump and Mamdani go from adversaries to allies after White House meeting

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Friday met the man who had proudly proclaimed himself "Donald Trump's worst nightmare," but he seemed to find the opposite.

International

Aamer Madhani And Will Weissert, The Associated Press

Trump paints Zelenskyy into a corner with his new plan to end Russia's war on Ukraine

WASHINGTON (AP) -- With his new 28-point plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine, President Donald Trump is resurfacing his argument that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy doesn't "have the cards" to continue on the battlefield and must come to a settlement that heavily tilts in Moscow's favor.

Nick Murray

Climate activists award Canada satirical 'fossil of the day' title at COP30

OTTAWA -- Canada's reputation as a global climate leader took a hit Tuesday when it was awarded the "fossil of the day" title at the UN Climate Conference in Brazil.

The Associated Press

Trump dismisses criticism of Saudi Crown Prince over the 2018 killing of a journalist

President Donald Trump welcomed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Washington on Tuesday as the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia makes his first White House visit since the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents.

Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press

Meta prevails in historic FTC antitrust case, won't have to break off WhatsApp, Instagram

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Meta has prevailed over an existential challenge to its business that could have forced the tech giant to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp after a judge ruled that the company does not hold a monopoly in social networking.

Cloudflare outage disrupts ChatGPT, X, other internet services

Internet infrastructure provider Cloudflare says it is deploying a fix for an issue that caused global outages for ChatGPT, social media platform X, transit infrastructure and other prominent internet services. Cloudflare said on its status page earlier Tuesday that it identified an issue that was impacting multiple customers. There were reports of widespread 500 errors as well as Cloudflare Dashboard...

Bigger, Not Better: How Canada’s public sector is delivering less for more

Canadians feel it – higher taxes, longer wait times, and public services that don’t serve us well. Yet behind these frustrations lies a deeper problem: Canada’s government sector has grown in size while becoming less and less productive. Over the past two decades, government spending has increased, but the return on our tax dollars has declined. From 2007 to 2023...

Substacks

A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.

Steven Staples

Why Canada's defence budget is upside-down

I went back to Ottawa this week. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the nation’s capital to talk about peace issues, so when the Senate of Canada contacted me, I had to go. Prime Minister Carney’s Budget 2025 is making its way through Parliament, and the Senate’s Committee on National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs asked me and...

Éric Blais

Air quotes and the politics of tone Why the Pierre Poilievre brand is such a hard sell.

Pierre Poilievre’s recent video attacking Mark Carney could have been a strong argument. If not for the air quotes. When he says Carney promised he could “handle Trump” and “negotiate a win,” his fingers twitch into the familiar inverted-comma gesture. It’s a tiny move, but it says everything. Air quotes don’t persuade; they perform. They turn conviction into commentary and...

Steven Staples

What might be Trump’s next challenge of Canada’s independence and sovereignty?

As Prime Minister Mark Carney said, “Donald Trump wants to break us so America can own us.” But what if Trump decides to use military power along with economic tariffs? An Arctic expert writing in The Globe and Mail says we shouldn’t think of tanks or helicopters streaming over the border. Instead, an American show-of-force could begin with a single...

Podcasts

ZOOM Happy Hour with Conservative MP Mike Lake: An Exercise in Civility?

Back in the dark days of the pandemic MP Mike Lake created a regular ZOOM hangout as an antidote to isolation, bringing together folks from all over the political spectrum. As we emerged from the pandemic, and our politics remained mired in division and polarization, he kept them going. Steve joined a recent Happy Hour, along with folks such as...

He was poisoned and imprisoned. Why he still fights for Russia's future

As Ukraine faces crucial decisions for the future of its four-year fight to defeat Russia’s full-scale invasion, several nations are gathering in Canada for the Halifax International Security Forum to discuss the importance of democracy — including high-profile critics of the Kremlin.

Cut, not cap? The latest on public service downsizing, with Marlo Glass

Peter Mazereeuw speaks with Marlo Glass, The Hill Times' public service reporter, about the Carney government's plan to downsize the public service.

How Canada Narrowly Avoided a Winter Election

David Moscrop joins the Everything Political panel with former MPs Martha Hall Findlay and Tony Clement to discuss the federal budget, if they thought it might not pass, if this budget was truly "transformational," how exactly this government can simultaneously "invest more" and "spend less," the "energizer bunny" Minister François-Philippe Champagne, and the usual "Good On Ya" round highlighting a...